Aston Villa CEO Tom Fox admits that the club is ‘fundamentally broken’ which is why new chairman Steve Hollis has been recruited to help solve the mess.

The claret and blue chief, who is in his second season at the club, has tried to remain positive despite Villa’s decline but results on the pitch have slowly started to quash his optimism.

Fox insists Villa will come back stronger if they are relegated from the Premier League this season and made it clear that the drop will not be as serious as some may imagine.

He told the BBC:

“There is something not right with our football set-up at Bodymoor Heath.

“When we talk about it, we say that it is fundamentally broken and has been for a while.

Chief executive Tom Fox with Aston Villa fans outside Villa Park

“The results speak for themselves. When a great club like this, with its history and heritage and success it has had in the past, finds itself in a relegation battle for five seasons in a row, despite spending money to bring players in and changing managers, you have to ask yourself ‘what is fundamentally wrong?’

Expert view on Steve Hollis

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“The principles Steve talks about are the ones we need to bring to our football set-up so that when we go to our board and ask them to spend money on acquiring players or coaches, we have a good sense for how that investment is going to pay off for the owner and how it is ultimately going to deliver results on the pitch.”

Aston Villa CEO Tom Fox with new manager Remi Garde at Tottenham

Fox also defended the club’s recruitment process and said they are looking at ways of improving the squad in January.

“We are taking a deep look at the squad and taking a lot of time with Remi (Garde) to try and understand what our needs are and the best ways to address those,” he said.

“In terms of the process we ran over the summer and will run this January, you can call it what you want - some have called it a committee - but we don’t buy or sell players any differently to any other top or successful club.

“If Remi is not happy with a player who has been suggested, he says no. We never end up with a list of players we are targeting that isn’t an approved list from the manager.”